The present application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 61/946,263 filed Feb. 28, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The worldwide demand for energy is growing. The US Energy Information Administration reported that in 2006, the world energy consumption was 500 exojoules=500×1018 J. In order for all people in the world to be brought up to the standard of living of the industrialized countries, worldwide production of energy would need to increase by a factor of four. In 2006, energy was approximately 10% of the total world gross domestic product. The cost of energy is a significant fraction of the GNP of developed countries and the lack of energy is a major obstacle to improving the standard of living for people in underdeveloped countries.
Currently, approximately 86% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels, coal, oil, and natural gas. Even if there was an unlimited supply, the combustion of fossil fuels produces unacceptable levels of greenhouse gasses for example carbon dioxide. New forms of combustible fuels such as fuel from algae will also produce greenhouse gasses and biofuels such as ethanol have the added disadvantage that a source of food is being converted into fuel. One promising new technology uses hydrogen to produce “green” energy without producing greenhouse gasses. Several technological hurdles including improved methods to produce and store hydrogen must be overcome before the hydrogen economy becomes a reality.
One promising method to more efficiently produce hydrogen involves steam electrolysis. Current steam electrolysis systems utilize steam produced by nuclear reactors to produce hydrogen more efficiently than conventional liquid electrolysis methods. Numerous scholarly articles and several patent applications including US 2011/0210010 A1 Pub. Date: Sep. 1, 2011 and WO2012084738 A3, Sep. 13, 2012, herein incorporated by reference, describe steam electrolysis systems for the production of hydrogen.
Current methods of storing hydrogen includes the use of pressure vessels for containing both liquid hydrogen as well as compressed hydrogen gas but this approach presents unacceptable safety hazards for many applications. In addition, cryogenic flasks for storing liquid hydrogen can be very expensive to build and maintain. Another hydrogen storage approach is to store hydrogen in the lattice of metal hydride materials but several technical challenges need to be solved to make this technique practical. Goals for a metal hydride storage system include the ability to extract the hydrogen at the rate of 1.5 gram per second with the metal hydride temperature less than 80 degrees C. A less than five-minute refueling time has also been established which presents a challenge to dissipate the heat that would be produced when the hydrogen is loaded into the metal lattice. See. B: F. Pinkerton and B. Wicke, “Bottling the Hydrogen genie” American Institute of Physics,—The Industrial Physicist, February/March 2004 pp 20-23.
It is well established that loading hydrogen into nickel is an exothermic reaction and that the diffusivity of hydrogen into nickel or other metal lattices increases with temperature as seen in FIG. 17 Wimmer, W. Wolf, J. Sticht, P. Saxe, C. B. Geller, R. Najafabadi, and G. A. Young, “Temperature-dependent diffusion coefficients from ab initio computations: Hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium in nickel”, Phys. Rev. B 77, 134305 (2008) herein incorporated by reference, which shows the temperature-dependent diffusion coefficients of hydrogen and its isotopes in nickel. As shown in Wimmer et al, increasing the nickel temperature from room temperature to 500° C. increases the diffusivity by 4 to 5 orders of magnitude. As shown in
The present invention addresses the shortcomings of conventional approaches by incorporating novel designs that combine the improved efficiency of high-temperature electrolysis including the use of steam for example the electrolysis of the water vapor and metal ion containing electrolytes to more efficiently produce hydrogen, while also loading and storing the hydrogen at temperatures that take advantage of the increased diffusion rates of hydrogen in suitable materials for example, palladium, nickel, NiTiNOL, constantan, Ni/Al alloy, Pd/Ag alloy, TiFeH2, and Pt. The invention also takes advantage of fugacity to load and unload the hydrogen contained in the working electrode which is used as the hydrogen storage medium. The invention's use of electrolysis also allows the controlled flow of hydrogen into and out of the working electrode by varying the current to control hydrogen flow into the working electrode and reversing the current to drive hydrogen out of the working electrode. The invention's use of electrolysis in a gas or vapor also allows control of the electrolytic reaction by varying the hydrogen ion concentration in the electrolyte. The use of steam or vapor electrolysis also allows the working electrode to be at high temperatures, which in nickel increases the diffusivity of hydrogen in the nickel. See “Thermodynamics of Metal Hydrides: Tailoring Reaction Enthalpies of Hydrogen Storage Materials” by Martin Dornheim, pp 891-918 contained in “Thermodynamics—Interaction Studies—Solids, Liquids and Gases” edited by Juan Carlos Moreno-Pirajan, (2011) ISBN 978-953-307-563-1, which is herein included by reference in its entirety. Throughout this invention, the mention of hydrogen includes hydrogen ions and the ions of hydrogen isotopes including deuterium and tritium. The electrolysis over-potential applies virtual pressure known as fugacity separately or in combination with increased pressures and temperatures, thereby increasing the loading rates of hydrogen into the storage material. Since increased loading rates can lead to exothermic reactions that increase nonlinearly as temperatures increase in the working electrode, this design incorporates a nonlinear control mechanism including utilizing the heat of vaporization of the cooling fluid to control the temperature in the working electrode. Long-term storage of hydrogen is maintained in the working electrode by reducing the temperature to reduce diffusivity, pressure, a physical diffusion barrier, and/or electrical overpotential. Controlled release of the hydrogen from the working electrode is achieved by heating the working electrode and by reducing and/or reversing the overpotential between the counter-electrode and the working electrode to drive out the hydrogen. Electrode designs can also incorporate at least one diffusion barrier to prevent undesired hydrogen release from the active electrode materials.
This invention includes but is not limited to:
1. The ability to load and maintain a high loading of hydrogen into suitable working electrode materials and/or composites, including the capability to control the flux of hydrogen into and/or out of the working electrode materials while operating within the pressure and temperature ranges that has been shown to support increased hydrogen diffusivity and permeability into and out of the working electrode materials.
2. The ability to apply additional stimuli that has been shown experimentally to be beneficial to loading the working electrode with hydrogen including static and dynamic magnetic fields and electric fields including sparks and plasmas, and ultrasonic stimulation to help initiate and control the hydrogen flux into and out of the working electrode materials.
3. The ability to conduct, transfer, and transport the heat produced in the working electrode away from the working electrode and to control the heat transfer rate to maintain the working electrode within the temperature range for sustained hydrogen flux rates while preventing the working electrode from overheating which can result in sintering, rupturing, or melting of the materials, and the ability to recover energy from the heat produced.
4. The ability to utilize a wide variety of materials that are capable of loading and storing hydrogen, including but not limited to bulk lattice materials, deposits of lattice materials, and aggregates of materials including micro- and nano-particles in or on the working electrode.
5. The ability to utilize composite working electrode designs such as a hydrogen permeable membrane to contain hydride nano-particles materials.
6. The ability to utilize a plurality of control mechanisms to control the nonlinear behavior of the system including but not limited to control of chaos techniques to maintain production, loading, storage, and release while controlling the temperatures within the reactor subsystem. See for example: “Taming Chaotic Dynamics with Weak Periodic Perturbations” by Braimam and Goldhirsch, Phys Rev Letters V 66, Number 20, May 1991 pp 2545-2548, and “Continuous control of chaos by self-controlling feedback” by Pyragas, Physics Letters A, 170 (1992) 421-428, and “Delayed feedback control of chaos” by Pyragas, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A(2006)364, 2309-2334 all herein incorporated by reference.
These capabilities are achieved through a system design that includes three subsystems including the electrolysis subsystem, a thermal management subsystem, and a sensor and control subsystem with data recording:
For purposes of this document, the following definitions apply:
Electrolysis: The passage of an electric current through an electrolyte with subsequent migration of positively and negatively charged ions to the negative and positive electrodes.
Electrolyte: A solid, liquid, mist, vapor, or gas containing charged ions that are mobile in the presence of an electric field. A mist is small droplets of liquid or particles that are dispersed in a gas. Examples of electrolytes include but are not limited to: A proton conductor in an electrolyte, typically a solid electrolyte, in which H-ions are the primary charge carriers. Electrolyte liquids and mists are normally formed when a salt is placed into a solvent such as water and the individual components dissociate due to the thermodynamic interactions between solvent and solute molecules, in a process called solvation. It is also possible for substances to react with water producing ions, e.g., carbon dioxide gas dissolves in water to produce a solution which contains hydronium, carbonate, and hydrogen carbonate ions. Note that molten salts can be electrolytes as well. For instance, when sodium chloride is molten, the liquid conducts electricity. Some gases, such as hydrogen chloride can contain ions and function as an electrolyte under the right conditions. The difference between a gas and a vapor: A gas is a single well-defined thermodynamic phase, whereas a vapor is a mixture of two phases (generally gas and liquid). Wet steam, typically at low temperature and pressure, is a combination of mist and vapor in which not all of the liquid has been vaporized. When all of the liquid has vaporized as temperature increases, dry steam (super heated steam) is produced. For this invention, the use of the term electrolyte can also include liquid, mist, vapor, steam, or gas that is ionized or further ionized in an ionizer or as the electrolyte is being ejected from an electrically charged injector or mister. For this invention, the use of the term electrolyte can also include hydrogen host material such as palladium ions and nickel ions that are deposited onto the working electrode and may be co-deposited at the same time as the hydrogen ions.
Working electrode: The working electrode is the electrode in an electrochemical system where the reaction of interest is occurring. The working electrode may be composites of materials where the reactants (hydrogen) are stored, modified, or consumed. The materials in the working electrode include hydrogen host materials and may include a low hydrogen permeable diffusion barrier. The working electrode can be either the anode or the cathode. The working electrode may include a composite working electrode that is composed of one or more materials, configured to provide a reaction volume where the reactants are stored, modified or consumed.
Hydrogen host materials: For this application, hydrogen host materials include any lattice materials into which hydrogen will diffuse including but are not limited to palladium, palladium alloys, nickel, nickel alloys, ceramics, and other materials or aggregates of materials such as but not limited to nanoparticles of nickel and zirconium oxide as well as nanoparticles of palladium and zirconium oxide.
Counter-electrode: The counter-electrode forms a pair with the working electrode to provide the electrical current and potential required for electrolysis.
Reference electrode: An electrode that does not participate directly in the electrolysis but can be used to measure and/or control the overpotential occurring at the working electrode during electrolysis. Although not shown in the figures, its use is the same as with electrolysis known to people working in the field.
Reactant: A substance participating in a reaction, especially a directly reacting substance present at the initiation of the reaction. See, San Diego State University, Chemistry 200/201/202 General Chemistry, McGraw-Hill, ISBN-13:978-0-07-775963-6 2012. The substance may undergo a chemical change or be consumed or modified by the reaction. Substances initially present in a reaction that may be consumed during the reaction to make products.
Hydrogen: For purposes of this invention, references to hydrogen include hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium and their respective ions.
Loading and unloading: diffusing hydrogen ions into and out of the working electrode.
Hydrogen diffusion barrier: This includes materials such as copper and stainless steel that have a very low permeability to hydrogen and if necessary, can also include a thin layer of gold plating. Austenitic stainless steels, aluminum (including alloys), copper (including alloys), and titanium (including alloys) are generally applicable for most hydrogen service applications.
Injector: For purposes of this invention, an injector is a port, aperture, or fenestration where liquid, vapor or gas is passed from one location to another. For purposes of this invention, a “mister” can be considered an injector. The injector can also include a porous pipe made of either metal or ceramic materials. An injector may or may not be part of one of the electrodes and include the ability to ionize or further ionize the liquid, vapor, or gas being emitted from the injector.
Magnetic fields include static magnetic fields such as those generated by a permanent magnet and dynamic magnetic fields such as those generated by a time-varying current as well as electromagnetic fields such as radio frequency fields.
Fluidic contact includes the interactions between a fluid and a surface or component such as but not limited to the ability to provide for heat transfer and the ability to transfer liquid, vapor, or gas between components of the system for example of two components being in fluidic contact in that the two components are joined by a pipe.
Heat transfer plenum: For purposes of this invention the heat transfer plenum is a chamber into which thermal energy is transferred from the working electrode, thereby cooling or maintaining the temperature in the working electrode. The heat transfer plenum further acts to collect and remove the thermal energy. This can be accomplished by introducing a heat transfer medium such as water spray, mist, or vapor that is at or below the desired temperature control temperature into the chamber where the transfer medium is heated and conducted or flowed out of the plenum.
Plasma generator refers to a device such as a spark plug that generates an electromagnet pulse and/or a plasma that both generates ions and assists in the recombination of hydrogen and oxygen gas.
Hydrogen/oxygen separator/recombiner: A device to separate or recombine the oxygen and/or hydrogen from a vapor stream.
Vapor: For purposes of this invention, a vapor includes a fluid that may be a gas and/or a mixture of two phases such as a gas and a liquid that may contain small droplets or particles mixed with the gas and/or a mist that contains small droplets or particles.
Thermal contact: Is the ability to transfer heat between components including heat transfer by conduction, convection, and radiation.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications in the described embodiments, and any further applications of the principles of the invention as described herein are contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
An embodiment of the present invention includes three primary subsystems: an electrolysis subsystem, a thermal management subsystem, and a sensor and control subsystem that includes a data recorder as shown in
(a) a plurality of sensors placed as required throughout the system to measure and report operational information including but not limited to one or more of the following types of sensors:
Temperature sensors such as but not limited to thermocouples, thermisters, RTD's, pyroelectric, and infrared sensors, (371); pressure sensors, (372); flow sensors (373); reference electrode (374); chemistry sensors, (375) for example pH, ionic concentration, or chemical ion sensors; current and voltage sensors (376); vibration/seismic sensors (377); static and dynamic electromagnetic sensors (378) including RF sensors; and other sensors as required (379).
(b) an electronic processor (33) including software and hardware controls as required for the operation and control of the system. This includes electronic systems to analyze the sensor information and calculate and provide feedback control signals to components of the Electrolysis Reactor System. Such systems will include the ability to control the multiple nonlinear processes involved. Such algorithms can also include control of chaos using techniques that are well-known in the art. See for example: “Taming Chaotic Dynamics with Weak Periodic Perturbations” by Braimam and Goldhirsch, Phys Rev Letters V 66, Number 20, May 1991 pp 2545-2548, and “Continuous control of chaos by self-controlling feedback” by Pyragas, Physics Letters A, 170 (1992) 421-428, and “Delayed feedback control of chaos” by Pyragas, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A(2006)364, 2309-2334 all herein incorporated by reference.
(c) a number and variety of control signals including but not limited to one or more: Signals to control the thermal management subsystem (20) including the cooling system controlling the fluid injection rate into the heat transfer plenum (383), to maintain the reactor subsystem within the desired temperature and pressure ranges, for example a signal going to control valve (143); a signal (382) going to the heater driver (270) to control heater (140) to increase temperature of the working and/or counter-electrodes with for example heating tape or other suitable devices to initiate and/or sustain the reactions.
A signal (380) to adjust the electrical potential and current between the counter-electrode and working electrode including the ability to reverse the current to control the loading and deloading (release) of hydrogen in the working electrode. This includes the ability to control the hydrogen flux into and out of the working electrode.
A signal (381) to control the ionized fluid liquid or vapor injector to inject ionized fluid droplets of electrolyte into the reaction chamber (117).
A signal (386) to control external stimuli for example magnetic fields and/or an electromagnet to generate static and/or dynamic electromagnetic fields including radio frequency fields, vibration, sonic, and ultrasonic generators, and a plasma field generator to supply a plasma of ions.
A signal (384) controlling the working fluid relief valve.
A signal (385) controlling the hydrogen reactant relief valve.
A signal (387) providing information to a real-time status display system (34) to monitor the performance of the system and provide alerts in the event that performance parameters exceed control limits.
A signal (388) controlling the chemistry system for example but not limited to controlling the pH of the electrolyte which is an indication of the H-ion concentration.
Signals as necessary (389) to other components as needed.
(d) An optional data recorder (35) for producing an archival record of the state of the system as a function of time.
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (110) containing a chamber (117) which contains the hydrogen ion electrolyte, (102) for example steam, water vapor and other hydrogen containing vapors. The vapors can also contain ions such as lithium, nickel and palladium and in this embodiment also help provide electrical conductivity to the working electrode (120), which also incorporates a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. The reactor vessel also serves as a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the chamber (117). Examples of a hydrogen diffusion barrier would include copper and stainless steel.
(b) A hydrogen host material positioned within the reactor vessel forming a working electrode (120). See
(c) a counter-electrode (130) preferably of non-reacting platinum or other suitable material positioned within the reactor vessel which is electrically isolated from the working electrode by an electrical insulated feed-through (115). Such counter-electrode may include one or more electrolyte injectors (131) which may further ionize the electrolyte as the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102) is injected into the reaction vessel chamber (117).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) as shown in
(e) a heat-transfer plenum (142) surrounding the reactor vessel which includes:
(f) a cooling fluid manifold (145) that receives the cooling fluid from the thermal management subsystem (20) and distributes it in a controlled release to the cooling fluid injectors (146) into the heat transfer plenum (142).
(g) an oxygen separator/recombiner (125) to separate and/or recombine the oxygen-rich remaining electrolyte vapor from the reactor vessel such as:
(h) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the pressure of the electrolyte vapor that is within the rated working pressure of the reactor vessel (110).
(i) a vapor electrolyte condenser (150) and an electrolyte reservoir and pump (160) to cool and recycle the electrolyte.
(j) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode to the desired working temperature.
(k) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119). The hydrogen is available for any application requiring hydrogen.
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (110) containing a chamber (117) which contains the hydrogen ion gas electrolyte (107), for example ionized hydrogen gas or HCl vapor and which in this embodiment the ionized vapor also provides electrical conductivity to the working electrode (120), which also incorporates a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. The reactor vessel also serves as a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. Examples of a hydrogen diffusion barrier would include copper and stainless steel.
(b) a hydrogen host material positioned within the reactor vessel forming a working electrode (120) with alternate embodiments shown in
(c) a counter-electrode (130) preferably of non-reacting platinum or other suitable material positioned within the reactor vessel which is electrically isolated from the working electrode by an insulated feed-through (115). Such counter-electrode may include one or more hydrogen gas-electrolyte injectors (132) for dispersing the hydrogen ion gas electrolyte (107) into the reaction chamber (117).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) as shown in
(e) a heat-transfer plenum (142) surrounding the reactor vessel which includes:
(f) a cooling fluid manifold (145) that receives the cooling fluid from the thermal management subsystem and distributes it in a controlled release to the cooling fluid injectors (146) into the heat transfer plenum (142),
(g) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the safe pressure of the hydrogen gas electrolyte within the rated working pressure of the reactor vessel
(h) a gas electrolyte reservoir and pump (161) to recycle the electrolyte to a hydrogen gas ionizer (147). One example of gas ionization uses Am-241 which emits high energy alpha particles at approximately 5.48 MeV. These high energy alphas will strip off electrons from the gaseous hydrogen molecule, dissipating approximately 13.6 eV per electron so one alpha particle can strip many thousand electrons thereby creating many more hydrogen+ions than alpha particles and those ions can create additional ions as they gain energy as they are attracted to the working electrode. Another example is a plasma tube in which hydrogen molecules are ionized by a high voltage electric field. The hydrogen gas ionization can also be located inside the reaction vessel chamber (117).
(i) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode to the desired working temperature.
(j) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119). The hydrogen is available for any application requiring hydrogen.
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (111) which in this embodiment also serves as the counter-electrode. The counter-electrode includes one or more electrolyte injectors (131) for dispersing the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102).
(b) a working electrode (121) positioned inside the reactor vessel comprised of a hydrogen host material with alternate configurations as shown in
(c) the counter-electrode (electrolysis reactor vessel (111)) and the working electrode (121) are electrically isolated by electrically insulated feed-throughs (115).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) for example similar to the one shown in
(e) an electrolyte manifold (148) that injects the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102) into the reaction vessel.
(f) an oxygen separator/recombiner (125) for separation and/or recombination of the oxygen-rich remaining electrolyte vapor from the reactor vessel for example:
(g) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the desired pressure of the electrolyte vapor in the reactor vessel
(h) a vapor electrolyte condenser (150) and an electrolyte reservoir and pump (160) to cool and recycle the electrolyte into the electrolyte manifold (148).
(i) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode.
(j) a pipe or a tube (123) with support structure and with one or more injector ports and/or a porous pipe to disperse a controlled flow of cooling fluid to cool the working electrode.
(k) a thermal management control valve (113) to maintain pressure and temperature controls within the working electrode.
(l) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119).
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (111) which in this embodiment also serves as the counter-electrode. Such counter-electrode includes one or more electrolyte injectors (131) for dispersing the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102).
(b) a working electrode (122) positioned inside the reactor vessel, an example of such as shown in
(c) the counter-electrode (electrolysis reactor vessel (111)) and the working electrode (122) are electrically isolated by an electrically insulated feed-through (115).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) where:
(e) an electrolyte manifold (148) that injects the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102) into the reaction vessel.
(f) an oxygen separator/recombiner (125) for separation and/or recombination of the oxygen-rich remaining electrolyte vapor from the reactor vessel including:
(g) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the desired pressure of the electrolyte vapor in the reactor vessel
(h) a thermal management subsystem (20) to cool and recycle the electrolyte (102) into the electrolyte manifold (148) for injection by the electrolyte injectors (131).
(i) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode.
(j) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119).
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (110) containing a chamber (117) which contains the hydrogen ion electrolyte, (102) for example steam, water vapor and other hydrogen containing vapors. The vapors can also contain ions such as lithium, nickel and palladium and in this embodiment also help provide electrical conductivity to the working electrode (120), which also incorporates a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. The reactor vessel also serves as a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. Examples of a hydrogen diffusion barrier would include copper and stainless steel.
(b) A hydrogen host material positioned within the reactor vessel forming a working electrode (120). See
(c) a counter-electrode (130) preferably of non-reacting platinum or other suitable material positioned within the reactor vessel which is electrically isolated from the working electrode by electrically insulated feed-throughs (115). Such counter-electrode may include one or more electrolyte injectors (131) which may further ionize the electrolyte as the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102) is injected into the reaction vessel chamber (117).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) as shown in
(e) a heat-transfer plenum (142) surrounding the reactor vessel which includes:
(f) a cooling fluid manifold (145) that receives the cooling fluid from the thermal management subsystem (20) and distributes it in a controlled release to the cooling fluid injectors (146) into the heat transfer plenum (142).
(g) an oxygen separator/recombiner (125) to separate and/or recombine the oxygen-rich remaining electrolyte vapor from the reactor vessel such as:
(h) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the pressure of the electrolyte vapor that is within the rated working pressure of the reactor vessel (110).
(i) a vapor electrolyte condenser (150) and an electrolyte reservoir and pump (160) to cool and recycle the electrolyte.
(j) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode to the desired working temperature.
(k) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119). The hydrogen is available for any application requiring hydrogen.
The electrolysis subsystem (16) includes:
(a) an electrolysis reactor vessel (110) containing a chamber (117) which contains the hydrogen ion electrolyte, (102) for example steam, water vapor and other hydrogen containing vapors. The vapors can also contain ions such as lithium, nickel and palladium and in this embodiment also help provide electrical conductivity to the working electrode (120), which also incorporates a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. The reactor vessel also serves as a hydrogen diffusion barrier to prevent hydrogen from diffusing out of the back side of the working electrode material. Examples of a hydrogen diffusion barrier would include copper and stainless steel.
(b) a hydrogen host material positioned within the reactor vessel forming a working electrode (120). See
(c) a counter-electrode (130) preferably of non-reacting platinum or other suitable material positioned within the reactor vessel which is electrically isolated from the working electrode by an electrical insulated feed-through (115). Such counter-electrode may include one or more electrolyte injectors (131) which may further ionize the electrolyte as the hydrogen ion electrolyte (102) is injected into the reaction vessel chamber (117).
(d) an electromagnetic signal generator (190) as shown in
(e) a heat-transfer plenum (142) surrounding the reactor vessel which includes:
(f) a cooling fluid manifold (145) that receives the cooling fluid from the thermal management subsystem (20) and distributes it in a controlled release to the cooling fluid injectors (146) into the heat transfer plenum (142).
(g) an oxygen separator/recombiner (125) to separate and/or recombine the oxygen-rich remaining electrolyte vapor from the reactor vessel such as:
(h) an electrolyte relief valve (112) that maintains the pressure of the electrolyte vapor that is within the rated working pressure of the reactor vessel (110).
(i) a vapor electrolyte condenser (150) and an electrolyte reservoir and pump (160) to cool and recycle the electrolyte.
(j) a heater (140) to heat the reactor vessel including the counter-electrode and the working electrode to the desired working temperature.
(k) a hydrogen outlet (109) with a hydrogen relief valve (119). The hydrogen is available for any application requiring hydrogen.
The embodiment shown is
It should be recognized that in addition to temperature, external stimuli including static and dynamic electromagnetic fields, plasma generators, sonic and ultrasonic vibration, and pressure including electrolysis potential cycling and overpotential (fugacity), can improve the transfer of hydrogen into and out of the working electrode and can be incorporated as shown in the figures.
After the working electrode has been loaded to capacity with hydrogen, the working electrode, reactor vessel, and counter electrode are cooled to reduce diffusivity of the hydrogen out of the host lattice material for storage of the hydrogen. The electrical potential can be maintained between the counter electrode and the working electrode to produce a galvanostatic pressure to maintain storage. When the stored hydrogen is required by a fuel cell or other application, the potential between the counter electrode and the working electrode is reduced and may even be reversed to drive the hydrogen out of the working electrode, and out through the hydrogen outlet (109) for use.
It should be recognized that the Electrolysis Reactor System (1) involves numerous nonlinear interactions. System operation is managed by the Sensor and Control subsystem (30) which receives numerous inputs from multiple sensors located as required throughout the Electrolysis Reactor System (1) and using computer algorithms including nonlinear, sometimes referred to as control of chaos, algorithms, provides output signals to the numerous control points of the system and external stimuli of the working electrode and electrolyte.
In an alternative embodiment as shown in
a and 8b illustrate examples of alternative configurations wherein the positioning of the working electrode and the counter electrode are repositioned while providing the required functions of the working electrode and counter electrode. The remaining functions of these embodiments are functionally the same as previously described.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20160244889 A1 | Aug 2016 | US |